With the release of a convicted pedophile riling up a working-class neighborhood, Inspector Wexford (George Baker) investigates the apparent abductions of a wealthy couple's toddler and several teenage girls.

While environmental activists disrupt the construction of a highway bypass, the body of a missing German tourist turns up in the woods, strangled and sexually assaulted. As clashes between the protesters and security forces escalate into violence, a radical group engineers a series of kidnappings, with Wexford's beloved wife among the hostages.

While environmental activists disrupt the construction of a highway bypass, the body of a missing German tourist turns up in the woods, strangled and sexually assaulted. As clashes between the protesters and security forces escalate into violence, a radical group engineers a series of kidnappings, with Wexford's beloved wife among the hostages.

While environmental activists disrupt the construction of a highway bypass, the body of a missing German tourist turns up in the woods, strangled and sexually assaulted. As clashes between the protesters and security forces escalate into violence, a radical group engineers a series of kidnappings, with Wexford's beloved wife among the hostages.